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On Oct. 17, Daniel the duck flew for the first time in his life.
Dressed in a pair of red shoes, a Captain American shirt and a diaper, the 4-year-old Indian Runner boarded a plane from Charlotte, North Carolina to Asheville.
Daniel Turducken Stinkerbutt is an emotional support duck who belongs to Wisoncsin’s Carla Fitzgerald.
Here is Daniel The Emotional Support Duck in all his red-shoed glory. pic.twitter.com/rBkK0QnBKr
— Mark Essig (@mark_essig) October 17, 2016
Fitzgerald adopted Daniel when he was only days old, and has been her emotional rock since she was hit by a car in 2013.
But when she brought Daniel on her flight last Monday, she inadvertently turned him into an internet sensation.
Mark Essig, who was also on the flight, couldn’t resist snapping a few pics of the dapperly-dressed Daniel, and once he posted them to Twitter Daniel’s star was born.
Daniel, the duck on my flight, likes to look at the clouds. pic.twitter.com/YiOjCvZ0NO
— Mark Essig (@mark_essig) October 16, 2016
“My seatmate, CLT >AVL, is this handsome duck named Daniel. His gentle quacking eases the sadness of leaving,” Essid wrote in one tweet.
He later posted a short video of Daniel “wagging” happily, and a broody shot of the duck silhouetted against the plane window.
Here is a 3-second video of Daniel the emotional support duck. His human says, 'and wagging? That's happy.' pic.twitter.com/WElW9d827o
— Mark Essig (@mark_essig) October 17, 2016
In the slew of media interviews Fitzgerald conducted after Daniel became an internet star, she pointed out that her duck is an excellent source of emotional support.
“He would notice something wrong, whether it be my pain or my PTSD,” Fitzgerald told the Washington Post. “He would come and lay on me and [give me] lots of hugging and lots of kisses. And if he notices that I’m going to have a panic attack, he would give me a cue to lay down by trying to climb me.”
She said Daniel is quite intelligent and communicative: he will walks to his changing table if he needs new diaper, or to the refrigerator when he needs food.
He also enjoys playing with interactive toddler’s toys, and watching G-rated movies.
My seatmate, CLT➡️AVL, is this handsome duck named Daniel. His gentle quacking eases the sadness of leaving #SFA16. pic.twitter.com/iDKWCceAFi
— Mark Essig (@mark_essig) October 16, 2016
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